When They Were Young
by WritingJunkie
Summary: Sirius and James meet for the first time, aged just 5. Remus watches from a distance. Rating because of abuse.
1. Chapter 1

Sirius Black was a five year old rebel

When They Were Young

Sirius Black was a five year old rebel. He spent his days creating new weapons out of things he found in the back garden or throwing things at his older brother, Regulus.

His mother and father always told him off, despite knowing he wouldn't listen and they were sure he would one day get into more trouble than he could handle.

That particular summer afternoon was no exception to Sirius' rebellious behaviour. He had found a ball of string in the kitchen cupboard and thought it would be rather fun to trap everyone in the house. He tied the end of the piece of string to the front door handle, then ran around the house several times with the ball of string before tying it to the back door handle.

He looked admirably at his work as Regulus tried to open the back door, only to find that it was jammed.

"Sirius Black let me out of here this instant!" he shouted, despite only being eight years old he had considerable authority over Sirius.

"Nope," Sirius replied, laughing at the angry look on his brother's face.

"I'll tell dad and he'll hit you again!" Regulus shouted, glaring at the laughing five-year-old on the grass outside.

"So?" Sirius said, still laughing at his brother.

"You cried for hours last time he hit you! Do you want that again?" Regulus asked, still glaring at Sirius.

"How's he gonna hit me if I'm out here and he's in there?" Sirius asked, laughing hysterically at the even more annoyed look on his brother's face.

Suddenly Sirius' father was at the door looking extremely angry at Sirius. "Open the door now you stupid child," he snarled, trying to force the door to open.

Sirius looked scared but shook his head, thinking that if he didn't open the door his dad wouldn't be able to hit him. This however only made everything worse and his dad forced the door open in fury and hit Sirius harder than he ever had before. Sirius just lay on the grass outside the house crying for hours.

As soon as he had managed to recover enough to move without being in agony he went into the shed, picked up his bag of food he had put there the day before and ran down the garden path, out of the gate and into town where he met another boy who was alone.

"Hey," Sirius said, looking at the boy and wondering if they could be friends.

"Hey," they boy replied, looking up at the slightly taller boy, "I'm James. What's your name?"

"Sirius," he replied, "Nice to meet you James."

"Nice to meet you too," James replied, smiling at his new friend.

"Where are your parents then?" Sirius asked, looking around for them.

"I dunno. They don't care about me anyway!" James replied, looking down.

"My parents don't care 'bout me either," Sirius said, showing James the massive bruise he had on his leg where his father had kicked him.

"That looks painful," James said, looking at the bruise.

Sirius nodded, "So did you run away then or did they lose you?"

"They lost me. They forgot to tell me they were goin' somewhere and left me here," James said, sighing, "They're stupid sometimes."

"They don't sound too clever," Sirius said, laughing.

"So what did you do with your parents then?" James asked.

"Ran away from 'em," Sirius replied, "I mean if they're gonna beat me up I'm gonna leave. I told 'em I would and they didn't believe me. Their problem now, ain't it?"

James laughed at the way Sirius left letters out of everything and changed words to suit him.

"What you laughin' at?" Sirius asked, looking amused.

"Nothin'," James replied, deciding he'd do the same thing.

A couple of adults came out of a shop then and spotted James talking to a strange, scruffy looking boy. "James! There you are! Where did you go?" the woman asked him.

"I didn't go anywhere! You forgot me!" James protested as his mum picked him up.

"Who's this?" she asked, giving Sirius a funny look.

"Sirius Black, Miss," Sirius said, looking up at her and giving her a goofy smile.

"Where are your parents?" she asked looking concerned.

"I don't know and I don't care," Sirius replied.

"Come on, we'll have to find them," she said.

"I don't want to though," Sirius replied, looking annoyed.

"Why not? They're your parents!" she asked sounding rather surprised.

Sirius showed her the bruise on his leg and she looked quite surprised that his parents had really done this. He then showed her the newly forming bruise where his dad had hit him earlier and she felt sorry for the boy.

"They're still your parents though, Sirius," she said, taking his hand and leading him back in the direction he had come from. He felt sad, having not wanted to go home. They met his parents half way down the road and Sirius received another beating for running away.

He didn't care about the beating. He cared about his new friend James though. He hoped he would see him again one day.


	2. Chapter 2

When They Were Young

When They Were Young

It was a warm sunny day and Remus was playing in the garden with the family dog. He had always been close to the dog but not because he liked animals. It was more because he was an animal. After his father had insulted Fenrir Greyback he had been bitten and was now a werewolf that transformed every full moon. All the other children at his school thought werewolves were fairy tales, make believe stories that were just there to scare little children but Remus knew better. He knew werewolves existed because he was one himself. The dog seemed to know that and they were quite close friends. In fact, when asked who his best friend was Remus always replied that his dog was the best friend he had ever had and would ever need.

That afternoon he was out with his muggle mother walking the dog through the centre of town when he noticed a scruffy looking boy with long black hair was by himself. He sat on a bench and watched the boy go over to another boy who also had black hair. They were talking about getting lost and the boy with longer hair said that he didn't want to be with his parents. The second boy said his parents had forgotten about him. Remus subconsciously turned around to make sure his mother was still in the shop getting an ice cream and was relieved to find that she was.

He went back to watching the two boys as a woman picked up the second boy and took the first one back towards the lane he had come from. He wondered if the two boys were friends and sighed, wishing he had more friends than he did. The dog whined quietly and nuzzled his hand. Remus stroked it gently and said "You're the only friend I need Moony." His mum came out of the shop a few minutes later and passed Remus an ice cream. He smiled at her and said "Thanks Mum," before immediately giving half of it to the dog. After all, friends were supposed to share and as the dog was the only friend he had he knew he had to share with it.

His mum watched her son feeding the dog half of the ice cream and sighed. He was too thin as it was but he always insisted on giving the dog half of his food. She knew her son really cared about that dog and would willingly put his life at risk to save it. She had noticed that recently, since he had moved to his new school, he had become more thin and more pale and spent even more time with the dog than he had done before. She knew something should be done about it but she could hardly take him to the doctors. They would think he had rabies or something similar because of the werewolf side of him. She knew her son needed friends though and decided she should ask the school to try and get him to make friends with someone.


End file.
